Haverty’s:Customer Journey Documentation

The Search for an Office ChairKeith Atzman

Summer Semester 2011 – Adjunct Professor Alisan Atvur

How do I navigate to the office chairs at Haverty’s?

Arriving at the store…

Now to the internet…

Differences in Navigation: Online vs. In-store

One of the biggest differences in the navigation of Haverty’s was the lack of signs at the store location. There were no ways of labeling the various sections of the store and it made it somewhat difficult to differentiate between the different rooms Haverty’s supplies. Online there are simple tabs to identify the specific room the user is attempting to shop for. Besides noticing the types of furniture that belong to which room, a user would have no idea how to locate a piece of furniture. The ease of access to information varies greatly between the two locations. Another difference was the amount of items in the online and in-store experience. Online it seems like they have an enormous amount of furniture and appliances versus the in-store it seems to have less items.

Difficulties with store navigations:The most difficult part of navigating the store was locating signs to determine which section is which. The store layout made finding my particular item easier, it just would have been nice to look up and see which section of the store I was in. The store layout was in square blocks with aisles separating the different rooms. It was also difficult to locate all of the the office chairs. The displays for the items were set up like they would be in home office or bedroom versus keeping all the chairs in one section and mattresses in another. I was never sure if I had seen all that that particular section had to offer. I thought I saw office chairs that might work, however they were located in the bedroom section of the store. If the items were categorized by type of furniture instead of room layout, it might make it easier to shop.

The most difficult part of navigating the website was the size of the type on the tabs that list the items at Haverty’s. The home page is nice and simple with big type for “shop by room” and “shop by item” and it makes it very easy for the user to locate necessary information on the page. However, when the user proceeds to the next page the type on the tabs is smaller and harder to read. It wouldn’t be so bad but it is a long list of items to choose from. Another difficult part is accessing the site map. Although the average user is probably not interested in using the site map for navigation, the link for the site map does not function properly. If a user was trying to use it, they might get frustrated and leave the site when they cannot find it.

Difficulties with Online Navigation:

Office Chair Execution:

I believe that users in the online environment would have an easier time locating office chairs that those in the store environment. I was lucky enough to walk right to the office furniture section of the store but not all users will be so fortunate. The store was very wide open so it should have been easy enough to hang a few signs to differentiate between the various sections of the store. Online the user can locate office chairs in two to three clicks of the mouse.